Learning to Breathe

Most of us don’t think about breathing. It’s innate. It’s the very first life lesson that comes when we are born. It’s what obstetric doctors and new parents anxiously wait for in the delivery room. The ability to breathe is required for life. If you don’t breathe, you die. Most of us just do it from birth on and we take it for granted. We don’t really think about it until we can’t breathe.  Some people have disease or injury that make it difficult to breathe and they think about it every day. If we are suddenly submerged in water, we definitely fight to surface so we can get that air our body needs for survival. 

Every system in our body requires breathing. When we inhale, air enters our lungs and oxygen moves from our lungs to our blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide, a waste gas, moves from our blood to the lungs and is exhaled. This process is called “gas exchange” and it is essential to life.  Respiratory failure is a serious condition that develops when the lungs can’t get enough oxygen into the blood. Buildup of carbon dioxide can damage the tissues and organs. If our blood oxygen levels get too low we experience headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, confusion, chest pain and high blood pressure. 

Thinking about my own experience with breathing (something I’ve been doing for a few decades now), I began to wonder why we sigh and yawn. Sighing is like a long, deeper breath. I tend to sigh when I feel exhausted, exasperated, sad or when I feel relief. Most often sighs are associated with some kind of emotion, but they are important physically to give an extra infusion of oxygen that our bodies need from time to time. When our oxygen levels drop for whatever reason, a sigh tends to bring them back up to normal. Yawning has a similar effect in the body. When we are bored or tired, we breathe more slowly and not as deeply.  Yawning, like sighing, helps bring more oxygen into the blood and move more carbon dioxide out. Yawning can be a social response as well. Seeing someone else yawn triggers a response in us to yawn. Yawns are “contagious” if you will. 

In spite of the fact that most of us take breathing for granted, there are things we now know about intentional breathing that improve our health. It can be a powerful tool to calm our mind and body. If we focus on our breaths, we can slow our breathing which helps us relax and lower our heart rate and blood pressure. It can reduce stress and emotional responses.  It clears our thinking and improves our memory. If we practice controlled breathing regularly, we feel better! 

In recent years, I have found tremendous benefit to taking time out to get still (being in nature is my favorite), close my eyes, take regular deep breaths, exhaling slowly. When I do, I can hear my own heart beating and feel the tension leave my body. It’s great for slowing down the buzz in my brain so my creativity can rise to the surface. Many of my blog posts and poetry come after I get quiet and breathe intentionally. As I write this, I’m in a campground on the Flathead River very near Glacier Park in western Montana (see photos). It’s a great place to breathe, allow my mind to slow down, and soak up the beauty around me.  

Learn to breathe. Give yourself that much needed break to slow your breathing and let all the cares of life exit with the carbon dioxide.  It’s amazing what some extra oxygenation can do for your mood and energy.  Don’t wait till your stress level is at near combustion stage.  And while you’re at it, thank God that you’re still breathing.  It’s easy to take for granted.  Deep breaths, everybody!  And don't forget to exhale....